Known to the art are various ready to use cleaning and disinfecting compositions which include as germicidal active constituents one or more component such as alcohols, phenolic containing materials, quaternary ammonium compounds as well as acids. However, many such known prior art compositions also frequently induce ocular and/or dermal irritation and this hampers their acceptance and use.
Known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,556 are certain specific aqueous compositions which include significant levels of hydrogen peroxide as a disinfecting active constituent, an ammoniated constituent and an alcohol constituent for providing a primary cleaning benefit to a carpet surface.
Known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,585 and from U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,387 are certain specific aqueous compositions which include hydrogen peroxide as a disinfecting active constituent which compositions are cited to be useful for the disinfection of hard surfaces; the compositions include an organic triazole corrosion inhibitor.
The current state of the art indicates the need for improved disinfecting compositions, particularly in a ready to use form, which may be classed as broad spectrum disinfecting compositions, but preferably may be classed as hospital strength disinfecting compositions. This is particularly true for organisms which are know to those skilled in the art as more difficult to kill than Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive type pathogenic bacteria) (ATCC 6538), Salmonella choleraesuis (gram-negative type pathogenic bacteria) (ATCC 10708), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15442) which are commonly used as test organisms in evaluating sanitization or disinfection efficacy of a composition. As is known, many diseases are associated with the presence of such further organisms (described below) which are commonly understood by those skilled in the art as being more resistant to eradication than Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella choleraesuis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
The current state of the art also indicates the need for improved methods for the disinfection, and preferably the combined disinfection and cleaning of hard surfaces. It is to these needs, as well as others, that the present invention is directed.